


The conversation

by goldandgreenqueen (capitall)



Category: Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 10:07:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22848409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capitall/pseuds/goldandgreenqueen
Summary: Moon and Ember discuss singing in Raksuran courts.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	The conversation

**Author's Note:**

> Set shortly after The Siren Depths.

Evening was coming, and Moon was leaned against Jade on a pile of cushions in her bower, Balm at her back and Chime resting on his hip, when the first of the Arbora voices rose from the lower regions of the colony tree. 

Jade stood up first, and stepped to the window overlooking the central well, to listen to the building chorus and prepare to respond with the rest of the Aeriat. Jade and Chime soon joined her, already humming. 

The song of Indigo Cloud wasn’t as foreign to Moon as it used to be, but it still made him uncomfortable. That discomfort drove him up from the cushions and out of Jade’s bower, to seek a quieter place. He avoided the central well and took the back stairs toward the consorts’ level. As he reached the bottom of the staircase, he paused on hearing something new, half-grown and squeaky, joining the rest of the Arbora - Pebble. Or maybe Speckle? Perhaps both of them, trying out their voices. 

Listening to first song of the youngest Arbora and the answering welcome of Jade and the Aeriat, Moon almost missed Ember, sitting alone in his bower, arranging a kettle on the hearth. Moon paused in the doorway. 

“You aren’t joining the song?” Moon wondered why he cared. Whatever Ember was doing was undoubtedly the right thing. 

“Oh no, I’m not ready for that yet,” Ember replied. “Tea?” He was perfectly composed and kind, of course. 

Moon walked into the room and sat on an empty cushion across from Ember. Ember took that for the acceptance it was, and added more water and tea to the kettle. The two consorts sat, listening to the music - a conversation, really, among the members of the court. Moon followed Jade’s powerful voice as it rose and fell and danced with the others. 

“I don’t know when I’ll be ready to sing.” Ember continued. “Shadow told me that I would eventually feel like I wanted to join in, and I shouldn’t worry about it before then. He said he didn’t start singing with the court until he taught his first clutch how to do it.”

Moon accepted a cup of tea and sipped it, feeling something something he hadn’t in a very long time. “You mean … this is normal?”

Ember smiled over his tea, “You’re acting like a perfectly normal consort, Moon.”


End file.
